news/updates
Shell starts selling CNG
By Abigail L. Ho
Philippine Daily Inquirer
March 24, 2008
MANILA, Philippines--Almost five months after the launch last year, the Shell Companies in the Philippines is finally signaling the official start of the commercial operation of its compressed natural gas (CNG) stations today.
The CNG project will officially start with the Libreng Sakay (Free Ride) program using 11 CNG-fed buses.
Mario Marasigan, energy utilization and management bureau director at the Department of Energy, said some CNG-fed buses had already been operating in the Batangas area for two weeks now.
The actual commercial run would be triggered by the Libreng Sakay program.
"A technical working group is currently finalizing arrangements (for the commercial operations of the CNG stations). We want to ensure safety and security," he said.
The DOE expects 200 CNG-fed buses to be delivered to the country as part of its seven-year Natural Gas Vehicle Program for Public Transport (NGVPPT), 185 of which have already been allotted to accredited bus firms.
The accredited bus operators under the NGVPPT include KL CNG Bus Transport Corp. with 40 units, HM Transport Inc. with 80 units, RRCG Transport and Pascual Liner Inc. with 20 units each, Greenstar Express Inc. and CNG Vehicles Corp. with 10 units each, and BBL Transport System Inc. with five units.
The CNG-run buses cost around P5 million each.
Under the NGVPPT, these CNG-fed buses will be enjoying a more than 50-percent cut in fuel costs, as CNG to be sold by Shell is priced at only P14.52 a liter.
"This pilot program will allow us to determine the economic viability of using CNG for public transport. We should be able to see at least 2,000 buses during these seven years," Marasigan said in an earlier interview.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had said this was a significant step in "countering the threat of increasing oil prices and pollution."
"We're reducing dependence on imported fuel and promoting clean air. We're promoting natural gas as a clean alternative fuel for transport," she earlier said.
The CNG-fed buses will ply the Batangas-Manila-Batangas route.
